I had my computer savvy sister set this up for me and now it’s time to take over and start the process.

I would like to take the opportunity to back track and start from the beginning to how I ended up here. Where is here… well it’s starting a new company in the middle of recession. This blog is for other business minded folks, perhaps on a similar journey, and to let you all know, ‘yeah it’s hard out there and there is no such thing as a break or luck, only shear will and determination that will get you to where you want to be’. This blog is about the ups and downs of surviving one’s life and the attempt to reach the American Dream.

I will back track a bit to Christmas 2010 in the first few blogs to bring everyone up to the current timeline. Once there, everyone can then understand the process and transition to starting up a toy company, manufacturing in China versus USA, and the process itself of creating a (hopefully) long standing company.

In order to do this I will create a blog post for each month individually that will contain a recap of what happened that month. This will give you an idea of what happened and how fast this process can be if one is committed to the process … and if one can survive it!!

My sister called me 5 weeks ago. It was Thursday before Labor Day weekend.

“I’m definitely not doing this alone,” said Kathy. “You need to get your passport renewed and a Chinese Visa.”

The next day, began my own little version of “The Amazing Race.” It started with a 5:00 AM wake up, getting dressed, and packing a lunch. At 6 AM I was at CVS convincing the store manager to take passport pictures (the passport photos hours didn’t officially start until 8 AM, oops!). A half an hour later I was among the thousands of beltway computers driving into DC. By amazing good fortune, I walked out of the US Visa office with a renewed passport by 11 AM and took a taxi to the Chinese Visa Office (not to be confused with the Chinese Embassy). At 2:30 PM I giddily walked out of the Chinese Visa office with passport and a rush business visa in hand. Two hours later, Kathy (who, by the way, lives in Chicago) and I were on the phone as we coordinated buying tickets to Hong Kong, China departing Tuesday, September 6 and returning on the 16th.

I then spent the holiday weekend, preparing myself and family for this spontaneous trip. When I called to tell my boss about this unexpected and unplanned trip, she asked, “Why do you have to go?”

I replied, “Because it appears that to achieve the American Dream, you have to go to China.”